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Joplin Personal Injury Law Blog

On behalf of Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci posted in Medical Malpractice on Friday, July 24, 2015.

Of all the people in the world that you would think would undoubtedly stay home from work when they are sick, you would have to say "doctors" or "medical professionals," right? These are people who constantly work with the sick, or those who are suffering from serious medical conditions. Medical professionals know how an illness affects them, and they know how it can easily be spread among people.

And yet, a new study found that doctors knowingly ignore the risks of coming into work when they are sick. The study was published in JAMA Pediatrics, and it surveyed 536 medical professionals about their behaviors in relation to work when they are sick. The results were very surprising.

On behalf of Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci posted in Medical Malpractice on Tuesday, July 21, 2015.

Whether you're a follower of the news or a follower of our blog, chances are good you've heard about Senate Bill 239, which passed through the Senate and House with majority approval just months ago. As we explained in a March 11 post, the bill intended to put a cap on noneconomic damages received in medical malpractice lawsuits. As of a few months ago, the bill only needed the signature of Gov. Jay Nixon in order to become law.

For those who don't know, the pen fell on May 7 when Gov. Nixon signed what many in Missouri considered an injustice to victims of medical malpractice. That's because, as we pointed out in our post, the bill places a limit on the value of a person's life, which is not something many believe the government should be able to do.

On behalf of Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci posted in Car Accidents on Friday, July 17, 2015.

Life is unpredictable. It's a saying we're sure many of our readers have heard someone here in Joplin say before. But while this saying can be applied to happy occurrences, it can also be associated with bad ones as well.

Take for example a car accident. In most cases, collisions with other vehicles happen suddenly and typically without warning. As a result, victims are usually left shaken and in need of medical attention. In particularly serious collisions, a person may even be traumatized by the experience.

On behalf of Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci posted in Truck Accidents on Friday, July 3, 2015.

On June 24, the driver of a semi-truck apparently sideswiped another truck as he was trying to pass. No one was hurt, but he was cited for careless driving. The next day, the same trucker was headed down a stretch of I-75 in Tennessee. Traffic had stopped due to construction, but the trucker didn't notice in time. His truck slammed into eight vehicles, causing six people to be injured and six more to die.

These allegations come to us via the Chattanooga Times Free Press, which seems to have done a thorough job trying to pin down what went wrong. Unfortunately, a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board says it's just too early to tell.

On behalf of Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci posted in Car Accidents on Thursday, July 2, 2015.

Despite what we now know about alcohol's effects on driving ability, it took a long time for drivers in the United States to really recognize the dangers of drunk driving. To illustrate, consider that the annual number of drunk driving deaths has been reduced by half since Mothers Against Drunk Driving was founded more than 35 years ago.

Drunk driving is still a serious problem in Missouri and throughout the country, but education, legislation and law enforcement have played major roles in stopping a very dangerous behavior. The same will need to happen with regard to another form of driver negligence: distracted driving.

On behalf of Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci posted in Car Accidents on Monday, June 22, 2015.

The world is changing rapidly these days, and sometimes the law doesn't maintain the pace of those developments. We all appreciate technological changes that help keep us safer, of course, but sometimes we forget to check into how those technologies might affect our legal rights, don't we?

When it comes to safe travel on our nation's roadways, many engineers have long dreamed of an autonomous vehicle that could navigate local streets and freeways with ease and safety. Robots, the theory goes, are likely to be much safer drivers than humans. After all, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 94 percent of traffic accidents are caused by human error. A self-driving car obeys all traffic rules, senses potential collisions and avoids them, and never gets distracted or impatient.

On behalf of Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci posted in Truck Accidents on Friday, June 19, 2015.

Tracy Morgan made so many people laugh on Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock. he also had a very successful stand-up career, in addition to other film and television commitments. Everything was going great for him -- until last summer. While in a vehicle with multiple other people, Morgan was severely injured in a truck accident that left one of his close friends with fatal injuries.

The truck involved in the accident was associated with Wal-Mart, and the driver had not slept in 24 hours. The driver was also speeding in a zone that was near construction. There was plenty of negligence involved in this wreck.

On behalf of Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci posted in Car Accidents on Friday, June 19, 2015.

For those who have already been in a car accident, you know just how chaotic and bizarre the moment that follow the wreck can be. For those who haven't been in an accident, heed some of the lessons in this blog post so that you will be better prepared in case you are involved in a wreck. Though if the knowledge never gets used because you don't get into a car accident, then that's even better!

When you get into a car accident, one of the simplest steps you can take is to do nothing. Yes, that's right -- do nothing. What we mean by that is don't leave the scene of the wreck. Don't drive off; don't flee; don't think you'll get away from the law. No matter what happens, you are better served by staying at the scene.

On behalf of Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci posted in Truck Accidents on Friday, June 5, 2015.

Sometimes, there is a clear “correct” way to accomplish a given goal. If a goal is not pursued in this specific way, the goal’s outcome will not be achieved. For example, if one wants to serve beef lasagna to several guests but chooses to use eggplant as a substitute for beef while cooking the dish, one will not be able to serve beef lasagna to those guests. However, there are countless scenarios in which one may choose any number of varied paths when pursuing a specific goal.

For example, there are many options one can embrace when training a novice driver. One can place the novice driver in a simulator, teach many skills in a classroom setting, encourage the driver to learn behind the wheel, etc. There is no one “right” way to teach a novice driver how to successfully become a safe and efficient motorist. However, there may be approaches that are ultimately more beneficial than others.